Back in the thick of it

Alan Hutton hopes he has timed his comeback from injury to perfection after featuring for the first time since November in Sunday's win over Newcastle.

Alan Hutton hopes he has timed his comeback from injury to perfection after featuring for the first time since November in Sunday's win over Newcastle.

The Scottish international was introduced as a 34th minute substitute for the injured Michael Dawson and slotted into his familiar right-back role to play a key part in the victory.

It has been a frustrating campaign for Alan, who began it on the sidelines with a fractured foot before making a short-lived comeback in October and subsequently re-aggravating the same injury weeks later.

But there has been no rush in his return this time around, having featured in three Reserve games as well as international action for Scotland.

And now he hopes to play his part in our final five games of the season - which could result in European qualification.

"It's been a long time in coming but I'm feeling fit and ready, so when I got the call to go on, I was happy," said Alan after Sunday's game.

"I've learned my lesson from last time, when I perhaps came back too quickly and ended up hurting myself even more.

"It's been a more gradual comeback this time and everything seems to have worked perfectly, so I'll just push on from here.

"The team's been doing really well and winning games, so it was always going to be hard for me to just walk back in.

"'Daws' getting injured is not a nice thing to see, but it did give me my opportunity.

"There are five games left and I want to be involved as much as possible. Hopefully I'll give the manager a headache now!"